Pussy Riot sat for their first English-language televised interview over the weekend, for an Irish talk show called “The Saturday Night Show.”
Host Brendan O’Connor spoke with recently freed Pussy Riot members Nadezhda “Nadya” Tolokonnikova and Maria “Masha” Alyokhina about their time in prison and cracked jokes that made light of their struggles and their cause.
O’Connor set the tone by kissing the guests hello, along with interpreter Pyotr Verzilov, who is the husband of Tolokonnikova. The host explained that he kissed all three guests because before the show, the Pussy Riot members insisted that if there were any kisses given as greetings, they should not discriminate between male and female. The ensuing interview seemed one where O’Connor was trying to keep the mood jovial for his audience (who probably had no idea who these women are) while the guests seemed to struggle to remind O’Connor and his viewers that the political conditions in Russia are no laughing matter.
“The two girls are on a mission now,” the host says at one point, “to reform these places and tell the world about it, is that right?”
“I want to point out that people who sit on couches usually have little relation to reforming something,” says Alyokhina.
“Will you tell Masha that I apologize for the capitalist running dog conditions of the bourgeoisie couch that we have her on,” O’Connor tells Verzilov, “and that next time we will arrange for a bed of nails for her to sit on while she delivers her message?”
Yeah, it’s that painful.
